Real Heroes Wear Orange
by Titan5
Summary: John visits his brother to see if they can connect again.  Of course even vacation trips are never that simple.


**Title: **Real Heroes Wear Orange

**Author: **Titan5

**Rating: **PG

**Characters: **John, Dave Sheppard and family

**Genre: **Gen; Family with a little h/c (because it's me)

**Summary: **John visits his brother to see if they can connect again. Of course even vacation trips are never that simple. Since the show never told us if Dave had a family, I just made up my own version.

**Author's note: **Written for SGA Saturday community on Livejournal; Week 4, Prompt: orange.

**Real Heroes Wear Orange**

John took a deep breath and raised his arm to knock on the door. Before he could make contact, however, the large wooden structure flew open to reveal a woman about Teyla's height with short, blonde hair.

"John, you're here!" The next thing he knew she was hugging him. He didn't know whether to drop his bags so he could hug back or continue to stand there like a goof. Before he'd actually decided, she let go of him only to grab his arm and begin dragging him inside. "Dave's out back trying to get the kids out of the pool, but he's kind of a wuss when it comes to that so I'll probably have to go out there and bodily drag them all inside."

The door shut behind him at the same time as they heard another door near the back of the house open and the sounds of laughing children filled the rooms. John smiled when he heard his brother's voice. "Put that towel back around you. You're dripping water all over the place. You're mom's going to kill all of us."

"Are you guys getting the floor wet?" the blonde yelled while winking at him.

"Uh, we're fine Cindy, be there in a few."

Cindy just sighed and looked toward the opening directly across from the front door as Dave escorted two dripping children toward the stairs. John grinned, amazed at how tall they had gotten. Daniel was almost twelve, with dark hair like John that was wet and plastered to his head. Gabrielle was eight, with long hair, currently in a sagging ponytail. It looked like it was lighter, maybe somewhere between the blonde of her mother and the brown of her father. Both kids had Dave's eyes, but John thought the rest of their faces more like their mom. One thing was for sure, there was no denying their parentage.

"They're almost like young clone combinations," John muttered. He didn't realize he'd said it out loud until he noticed everyone staring at him. "Oh, sorry. We were . . . uh, watching a science fiction movie with cloning the other night," he tried to explain, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Cindy laughed and Dave just rolled his eyes. "Glad you actually made it this time," his brother smarted off as he herded the kids toward the stairs. "I'll be right back."

Cindy's face reddened slightly. "Sorry about that. He's still a little miffed about you standing us up at Christmas."

John let out a big sigh. He'd made arrangements to come visit his brother and family for Christmas, but the Wraith had apparently made other plans. The day before his departure, they attacked one of Atlantis's allies, drawing them out and then trapping the Lanteans by holding the gate open. It had been a solid week of running, attacking, hiding, and evading until they had killed enough Wraith that the creatures finally left.

Over half of the settlement lost their lives. The rest managed to make it to the underground hideouts in the mountains. By the time they returned, there was nothing left of the village. John's team and Lorne's team had been exhausted, injured, and generally beat down. They got to spend New Year's in the infirmary floating on drugs after spending Christmas running for their lives. John didn't even get to contact Dave until after New Year's to let him know he couldn't come. By then Dave had kind of figured it out.

"I told him it couldn't be helped," John offered.

"Yes, you did," Dave said from the stairs. "I don't guess you'd care to elaborate on that? Let me guess. Hmmm, it's classified?" Dave put his hands on his hips in that confrontational way he'd always had.

John felt the old anger rising as he furrowed his brows. "Look, I spent that week with my team, running for our lives and trying to help a village that was destroyed by enemy forces. If it makes you feel any better, I spent three days in the infirmary when I got back. You want to see the scars?"

Cindy stomped her foot on the tile. "Stop this right now. We are here to mend fences, to see if we can get this family to be a family again." She looked at John and then over to Dave, her tone softening. "Dave, you've told me so many stories from your childhood. You guys used to be close. It can be like that again, but you need to put your differences aside and try. Please."

Dave shrugged his shoulders like he was indifferent, but his expression softened, which dampened back John's anger enough that he made a peace offering. "Look, the specifics are classified, but the gist is that our enemies attacked a village of allies. We answered their call for help and got trapped there, trying to help the survivors get away and not get killed ourselves. We got cut off from our home base for almost a week and . . . I wondered once or twice if we would even make it back."

Staring at the floor, John rubbed the slightly raised surface of a scar along the side of his neck, a reminder of the Wraith that had thrown him into a tree branch that had almost run him through. He'd been lucky to have survived that encounter, thanks mostly to Ronon and his blaster. When he looked up at Dave, he saw more belief and empathy than he'd seen in a long time.

Dropping his hand, John met his brother's gaze. "I honestly didn't have any way of knowing it would go down like that and I honestly couldn't contact you any sooner than I did. A lot of good people died during the attacks, men, women, and children. We do what we can to help but we can't be everywhere all the time. Once we got the remaining villagers hidden, we made a series of attacks that finally convinced the enemy to just leave and go elsewhere. When we got back in contact with our base, we brought in some reinforcements to help move them to a safer location."

Dave blew out a short breath and nodded. "Okay, I can accept that. It sounds like you did what you had to do."

"I did." John could read the questions in his eyes, but his brother knew enough not to ask. That was as close to apologizing the two brothers would come. The silence was broken by two kids bounding down the stairs, their towel dried hair standing on end. Barefoot and dressed in shorts, they stood staring at John like they had a million questions but didn't know which one to ask first.

"Do neither one of you know how to use a brush?" Cindy asked, walking over to try and flatten Daniel's still damp bush of hair. Daniel pulled away and half-hazardly slapped at his mother's hand.

"Mom," he drawled with a frown. "We want to see Uncle John. Is it true you fly planes for the Air Force?" he asked, eyes wide as they studied John.

"And helicopters," John replied with a waggle of his eyebrows. Daniel's eyes somehow widened even more.

"Are those presents?" Gabrielle squealed, pointing at the large paper sack with handles John had set down beside his duffle bag.

Glancing down at the sack, John sighed. "Yeah, those are the Christmas presents I had for you guys, but then I didn't get to come. I figured you might still like them, even though it isn't Christmas any more."

"We got presents!" the two kids chanted in unison, making both Dave and Cindy laugh.

"Let's go to the family room where we can sit down," Cindy said, pointing to the room across the hall that the kids had come from earlier. John set his bag against the wall and picked up the sack by its handles, following the others into a large room.

The curtains were open revealing sliding glass doors that led out to a deck with a pool. The sunlight played off the water, the reflected light dancing across the family room wall. A huge cushioned couch sat to the right with several matching chairs and recliners scattered around the room. A large wooden coffee table centered the arrangement and a flat screen TV hung on the wall opposite the couch. Family pictures were scattered on various surfaces, including an old one of John and Dave and their parents when the brothers had been kids.

The kids sat on the couch with a space between them and were waving at John to come sit with them. Dave chuckled and plopped down in one of the recliners, while Cindy took another. Apparently bringing presents upped your status with the nieces and nephews, even if you hadn't seen them in years. John took his seat between them which set off a series of giggles for some reason.

With the bag sitting on the floor between his legs, John looked first at Daniel and then Gabrielle. "So, were guys good this year?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "What are you, Santa?"

John's eyebrows shot up as he looked at his brother, who looked a little surprised himself. Clearing his throat, he narrowed his eyes at his nephew. "I might be. Just for that, Gabrielle gets her present first." He turned to the smiling face of his niece and handed her a package from the bag. The paper had reindeer all over it, from where he had even had his gifts wrapped up and ready to go.

"Christmas paper," she breathed out softly.

"Yeah, I already had them wrapped, so I just left it. I hope you don't mind."

Gabrielle batted her long eyelashes at him. "I love opening presents. You can call me Gabby Uncle John." Then she tore into the paper like Rodney tearing into a powerbar after a long hike. Once the paper slid off, she whipped the top off the box to reveal a necklace John had traded for on one of the market planets. It had a beautiful assortment of large beads made from carved shells and dried seeds. John had been entranced with it and hoped the little girl would like it.

"John, that is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it," said Cindy, her mouth open and her eyes wide. That made John happy because he'd gotten her one too. The two necklaces were similar without being exactly alike.

"Thank you Uncle John," Gabby said, still staring at the jewelry.

"If you don't like it, maybe we could do something else," said John, a little worried at her response.

Gabby looked up at him with a smile. "Oh, no, I love it. I just don't want to break it." She looked down and ran her fingers over the carved shells.

John laughed and reached for the box. "You won't break it, believe me. The people that made this made it pretty tough. Let's put it on you." He lifted it from the box and put it around her neck. She fingered it for a moment and then wrapped her arms around his middle in a hug. John grinned and put one arm around her, returning the gesture. He was a little surprised at the flush of warm pleasure that filled him.

"My turn," Daniel said. John had to grin at the look of excitement on his nephew's face.

"Oh, be right back," John said, popping up off the couch. He forgot that Daniel's gift was still in the rental care. He jogged out to the car, removed the long present, and then returned to the family room and four inquisitive faces. "Okay, here you go. Yours was kind of long and annoying," he joked.

Daniel stood up and took the skinny gift that was taller than he was, looking at it for a moment before ripping the paper off. He stared in disbelief at the wooden staff with intricate details carved around the ends. "Wow," he breathed out. "Thank you so much."

John glanced at his brother to check for approval on the gift. "I know you said Daniel was starting to use a staff in his martial arts class. The people we work with, they have kind of a different fighting style, but it is similar to martial arts in many ways. Sometimes they use staffs so I had them make one for a present to Daniel. I thought then he would have his own and it would be special instead of just using one of the training staffs they have on hand. He can get familiar with the balance of it."

Dave was up and examining the workmanship with Daniel. He shook his head and looked at John. "This is amazing."

John slowly blew out a long breath. He hadn't been around his niece and nephew very much and had no idea how the gifts would be received. Apparently he hadn't been aware of how much he wanted them to like the presents. Now that they were a success, he felt like a great weight had been lifted. "Oh, I got you guys something too."

Cindy snorted and crossed her arms. "I thought we agreed to only getting gifts for the kids."

John shrugged his shoulders. "These weren't really planned, I just kind of saw them and got them. Besides, you are letting me bunk here so consider them a thank you present, even if they are wrapped in Christmas paper." He pulled out a gift bag with a giant Santa face and handed it to Cindy.

Grinning, she set it down in front of her. "Okay, I can admit, I like presents too." She moved the tissue paper aside and pulled out two quart jars filled with a reddish purple substance. Her eyes widened. "Jelly?"

John scrunched up his face and then nodded. "Kind of. One of the villages we deal with makes this stuff from a fruit that grows nearby, kind of like jam I guess. It's really, really good. But the fruit only grows for a few weeks out of the year so they pretty much had to make it and then eat it quickly. We showed them how to can it like we make jams and jellies and gave them the jars they needed. So they make extra to share with us. It doesn't taste like anything you've ever had, at least not completely."

Cindy studied it, looking intrigued. "I can't wait to try it." Glancing down, she stuck her hand back in the bag. "Hey, there's more." Pulling out a box that looked like Gabrielle's, she grinned and pulled the top off to reveal her necklace. "Oh, look, I got a necklace too. Now I won't have to steal Gabby's. Thank you so much John," she said, laying everything down and jumping up to hug him.

John stood paralyzed for a moment while his brother smirked and then loosely hugged his sister-in-law back.

"Mommy, we can be twins," Gabrielle said as she bounced over to compare her necklace to her mom's.

John grinned and looked at his seated brother. He sighed and put his finger to his chin as if thinking. "Hmm, did I get Dave something? I can't seem to remember."

Daniel immediately looked in the paper bag. "You did get dad something. There's another package." He pulled it out and took it to his father, heaving it into the man's lap. "It's heavy."

Dave shook his head and sighed. "John, this really wasn't necessary." Pulling the paper off, he revealed a wooden carving almost a foot long of horses racing through what looked like a meadow. John had seen the statue at the same market with the necklaces. The horses weren't horses, but an animal on the planet that looked surprisingly close to the Earth animals. Even Ronon had commented on the striking similarity. What had gotten his attention was apparently a visual trick of the carving that made it look almost like the horses were actually running.

"I know you used to love horses. That was one of the main things we had in common when we were older, that we both loved the horses. Not sure if that still holds true, but something about that statue just grabbed me. I thought it might look nice on your desk."

Dave ran his fingers slowly over the dark, polished wood. "John, this is . . . magnificent. Where on Earth did you get it? It must have cost a fortune."

John frowned and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. _Nowhere on Earth, _he thought. "Actually, I traded for most of this at a local market. It really wasn't that bad."

Dave passed the carving to Cindy. "Well thank you. You're right, it's going straight to my desk at the office." He grinned as he watched his wife study the piece. "I can just watch that for a few minutes when I get stressed and I'll feel like I'm out in the field with the horses. It almost looks like you can see their manes and tails blowing in the wind."

"Uncle John," Gabby said, taking his hand. "Come sit on the couch again. Daniel and I got you a present too."

Daniel jumped up and began running for the stairs. "I'll get it."

"Don't run in the house," called his mother. The boy slowed down until he got to the stairs and then bounded up them. They could hear him run down the upstairs hall before returning to bounce back down the stairs and carefully walk into the family room. Cindy sighed. "That goes for when I can't see you as well as when I can."

Daniel chuckled as he handed John a box. "We didn't get it wrapped."

John's eyebrows rose. "That's okay, I wasn't expecting anything." He pulled the top off the box as four sets of eyes stared expectantly at him. Folding back the tissue paper, he slowly pulled out a shirt. It looked like a Hawaiian shirt, bright orange with big yellow and red flowers. It was possibly the loudest shirt he'd ever seen. Holding it up, he continued to stare at it, thinking this was one of those bizarre dreams where you woke up and thought _where did that come from_. But he didn't wake up.

Glancing down at his niece and nephew, he looked for them to be laughing, but they weren't. They were looking at him with that same look he'd probably had earlier, the one that said _please like my present._ "Wow, this is . . . this is great," he said, striving for every ounce of sincerely he could find. He looked up to see his brother with his hand over his mouth and his eyes dancing. "I'm guessing your dad helped pick this out."

Gabby's head bobbed up and down. "Daniel and I found it, but daddy said you would love it."

"He did?" John drawled. "I'll have to work real hard to find a way to repay him."

Dave cleared his throat and managed to look semi-serious. "That's alright. I'm pretty sure I'm just paying you back for a few things when we were kids."

John winced. Okay sometimes karma really was a bitch. "Yeah, I guess you might have owed me one or two."

"Ya think?"

John just shrugged his shoulders as he folded the shirt back into the box. Well, the good thing was that he was stationed a few million light years away from these people so how would they know if he ever wore the shirt. He might even leave it hanging in the back of the closet for Dave to eventually find after he was long gone.

"You should wear it tonight when we go out to eat," said Daniel, staring intently at him.

John's eyes flew open in horror as he looked to his brother. "What?"

Dave nodded, smug grin firmly plastered on his face. "I'm taking us all out to the club for supper. I think that's a wonderful idea. And the girls can wear their necklaces."

John looked back down at the shirt. Most of his wardrobe was black. There was no orange or red or yellow. This was a nightmare. What would he even wear the thing with?

"You will wear it, won't you Uncle John?" pleaded Gabrielle, batting those lashes at him again. "Ple-e-e-e-ase?"

This was worse than fighting Wraith. At least you could hate them. How do you fight those eyes and that sweet, pleading voice. Crap. "Sure, uh, yeah, I'll wear it." What was wrong with him? He looked up at his snickering brother and mouthed, "I hate you" where the kids couldn't see.

"Come on and I'll show you your room," said Cindy. "You'll need to get changed soon if we're going to make our reservation." And then she laughed too. Just when he thought she was the friendly one.

oOo

Dave parked the car in front of the sprawling country club building and they all began piling out. As John crawled out from his place in the middle of the back seat, he scowled at his brother. "Surely a place this fancy has a dress code. You know, shirt and a tie?"

Laughing out loud, Dave pointed to one of the big orange buttons on his shirt. "Button up shirt and slacks. That thing definitely has buttons."

"Gee, thanks," John sighed as Gabrielle took his hand.

"Will you sit by me?"

He didn't want to look down at the evil child that looked like an angel and somehow had him wrapped around her little finger after only a few hours, but he did. And in spite of how ridiculous he felt, he returned her smile. "Of course, sweetie." Maybe people would realize he'd been dressed by an eight-year old and not hold him responsible for his current fashion style.

John was pretty sure there were a few double takes as they were seated, but he chose to ignore him. Gabrielle had chattered all the way in, making him smile and not care so much that he looked like a goofball. His niece was thrilled he was wearing the shirt she had helped pick out and right now that seemed more important than the stares of the locals. The little girl giggled as John pulled the chair out for her and waved his hand dramatically.

"Your chair, my fair princess."

Daniel looked embarrassed and rolled his eyes. "Dad?"

Dave shrugged his shoulders. "It's your Uncle John, son. Best get used to it."

The waitress came to take their orders and kept glancing over at John. He wasn't sure if she was flirting or horrified by the loud shirt. He decided to go with flirting because that was easier on his ego and so he kept flashing her a crooked grin. When she smiled back at him and her hand lingered on his during the menu transfer, he decided she really was flirting. That kind of lifted his spirits.

"Why did that lady keep staring at Uncle John?" Daniel asked his father.

"She probably just liked his shirt," Dave replied.

"Yeah, that was it," John deadpanned as he frowned at Cindy, who was snickering.

From then until their meal came, there was a constant stream of people stopping by to say hello to Dave or Cindy or both of them. Each time, Dave introduced John as his visiting brother and then explained a little more about them after they left. John had decided his brother must know everyone in a hundred mile radius.

As they dug into their meal, John noticed a large man talking with the hostess near the door. His thinning brown hair was disheveled, his clothes rumpled like they had been slept in. Hairs on the back of the pilot's neck stood up and he set his fork down as he watched and listened. The man was raising his voice and the hostess was obviously worried, trying to get the man to calm down. The girl tried to take the man by the arm, but he pushed her away, causing her to fall over some chairs behind her and crash to the floor.

Stomping across the room to the far corner, he approached a table with an older man with silver hair Dave had pointed out earlier as Stanley Miller, the CEO of a huge local company. John recognized something in the manner of the man approaching the table and he reached for his gun, only to remember that he was unarmed. He started to stand, not sure what he was going to do but certain that there was about to be trouble.

The next thing he knew, the man pulled a gun from under his coat and shot Miller point blank in the chest, sending him and his chair backward to the floor. Screams filled the air, along with crashing furniture as everyone dived for cover, under tables and behind chairs. The shooter began turning around, firing across the room and prompting even more screaming and crying. John was on the move now, trying to dodge crashing furniture and crawling people to get to the man with the gun.

As the gun came around to point at him, John dodged left, twisting his body in an effort to get out of the way. He wasn't really aware of the sound of the gun firing over everything else, but he did feel the burn across his right shoulder and into the meat of his upper arm. Adrenalin allowed him to keep going, barely aware of the pain as he reached the man and hit his arm, sending the gun pointing upward so that the next bullet fired went into the ceiling. Grabbing the man's arm, he brought it down across his knee with as much force as he could, breaking the bones in the forearm and sending the gun to the floor. The man howled in pain, but it didn't stop John from punching him in the face a couple of times.

The shooter hit the floor, out cold. Blood trickled from a split lip, forming a thin red trail down his chin. John was panting, his heart racing as he checked the man's pulse. Flipping the man over, he looked for something to secure him with until the police arrived. Not seeing anything, he let his eyes take in the room.

Dave was helping his wife and children up off the floor. Gabrielle was crying and the others were wide eyed, but he didn't see anything that indicated injury. Dave made eye contact with him and nodded, indicating they were okay. Looking the other direction, a doctor he'd been introduced to earlier was just standing up from checking on Miller and shaking his head to the man's family. Peripherally, John could see others moving around and helping the injured.

"These work?" The waitress he'd flirted with earlier held out several large zip ties. He noted her name tag and nodded.

"Perfect Mandy , thanks," he said, grabbing two. He fastened one around the wrist of the broken arm and then looped another through it before securing it to the other wrist. He checked to make sure they were secure without cutting off the circulation. Looking back up, he asked, "You okay?"

"Fine," she said. "I was in the kitchen when the shooting started so I stayed there. We called 911 so help should be on the way."

"Good," he said, getting to his feet. "I'm John by the way." When he bent over to pick up the gun, he almost face planted on the floor. He was getting dizzy and the receding adrenalin was leaving him shaky.

"You're bleeding," she said with a frown, staring at his shoulder. The whole top right side of his shirt was bloody and it felt like someone had lit a fire across his whole shoulder.

"John, are you all right?" Dave stepped up beside John, also looking at the injury.

"I don't think it's bad," John replied, looking at the damage across the room. "Did anyone else get shot?"

"I think one person got hit in the leg. Dr. Burnside is with her now. Everyone else seems to be okay except for a few cuts and scrapes from glass and falling furniture. John, maybe you should sit down."

John started to protest but he really was starting to feel lightheaded. Dave turned a chair over and pulled it over to where John was standing. "Sit," he said, pointing to the seat.

"Bossy," John muttered, but he sat, still keeping an eye on the man who had just ruined his first vacation in years. He could hear the sirens now, meaning that help was on the way. "You and Cindy and the kids are okay, right?" He thought he could see Cindy hugging the kids in his peripheral vision.

"Daniel had a small cut on his hand; otherwise we're fine. But you . . . you just charged the guy and he had a gun. How . . . " Dave ran one hand through his hair several times. "I don't understand how you did that . . . how do you run toward the guy with the gun?"

John laughed. He knew it was inappropriate, but he couldn't help it. "There's only one of him and he has one small handgun. This is an easy day compared to most of my days." He was also thinking that this guy was so much less threatening than the usual army of Wraith, it almost seemed too easy.

Dave just gaped at him, apparently speechless for once. Dave didn't have a clue and John realized he was glad. The man on the floor groaned and John brought the gun up to point at the shooter. "If you move I'm putting a bullet in your head," he said coldly, forgetting for a moment where he was. The index finger of his left hand gently stroked the trigger and in his mind he was challenging the man to resist.

"John?"

He could feel his brother staring at him. "Dave, you need to go outside and let the police know the area is secured so they don't run in here with guns blazing. Oh, and tell them the guy with the gun is one of the good guys. I try to limit getting shot to once a day if possible." Dave continued to stand there for a moment before leaving. John let out a sigh. Maybe McKay was right. Maybe he was a trouble magnet.

oOo

Dave poked his head into John's treatment room. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," John replied. "I hope we're about done. What about it doc?" He glanced over at the physician studying his X-rays on the light board. The man was close to his age, not quite as tall with light brown hair and glasses. He flicked the light off and turned back to John just as Dave stepped up to his bedside.

"I don't see any sign of bone involvement or major tissue damage. I think you got lucky this time Mr., uh, Colonel Sheppard. The bullet apparently skimmed across the top of your shoulder area and then passed through the deltoid. I think your arm might have been forward of your chest for the bullet to go through at that angle. Anyway, there is no bullet fragment to remove, so I think we're looking at a mess of stitches and then you can go."

The wound had already been cleaned, an activity that John had not enjoyed at all. A nurse entered and began helping the doctor get ready to finish patching John up. Dave was looking at the IV they had started. "What's this for?"

The doctor looked up and followed Dave's gaze. "The colonel had lost some blood and was a little shaky, so we're replacing fluids." He glanced up at the half empty bag. "I'd like you to hang around until you finish that bag so I can make sure everything looks okay, then you can go."

John nodded, knowing arguing would be futile and that he probably did need the fluids. He caught the doctor looking at the pile of bloody orange shirt hanging out of the trash can. "Hope you weren't too attached to that shirt." The smirk on the man's face told John that he already knew the answer.

"It was a gift," John said, tossing a glare at Dave. "But I'm sure I'll get over it."

"We could look for a replacement," Dave offered with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure it's bad form to threaten your brother when he's in a hospital bed."

The doctor and nurse exchanged a glance and a grin. "This may sting," the doctor advised as he began numbing the area around the wound. John hated the burn of the numbing agent, so he turned back to Dave.

"How's Daniel?"

Dave chuckled, surprising John. "He's the proud owner of three stitches and you'd think he'd won the lottery. He can't wait to show his friends and he's hoping for a scar he can show when school starts up again." His smile faded and he rubbed his face. "Thank goodness he and Gabrielle have been so enthralled with his little battle wound that it's kept them distracted from their brush with death."

John frowned up at his big brother, wishing he could advise him what to do or how to act. He had plenty of experience with soldiers and even scientist civilians, but not so much with kids. Even when they encountered children involved in a Wraith attack, he just got them to safety. Teyla or the parents or someone else handled the aftermath. He had no idea what to say.

"Dave, I . . . " He had nothing so he just closed his mouth.

"I can suggest someone," the doctor offered. "A friend of mine has had a lot of experience with families that have survived traumatic events. She's very good, especially with children."

Dave nodded, looking a little relieved. "Thank you, I'd like that. I'm just not sure how they'll handle everything once the excitement dies down."

"I'll jot it down for you when we're done. So, colonel, can you feel that?" asked the doctor as he poked and prodded around the wound.

John looked down at his shredded flesh. Man that was going to be sore tomorrow. "No, I think we're good to go." He glanced over at Dave, who was staring at the gaping wound as if in a trance. "Hey, you can take Cindy and the kids home if you want. I can catch a cab or something."

Dave shifted his eyes over to meet John's and snorted. "Oh you have so much to learn. Even if I wanted to abandon you here, none of the others would let me. No, little brother, you're stuck with us. And you might as well know that your nephew is telling everyone what a hero you are and that you saved everyone in the restaurant."

"Hardly," John scoffed, wincing at the pull on his shoulder. Apparently that whole side of his body was sore.

"The news people are sure calling you a hero," commented the nurse.

"What?" John asked, narrowing his eyes.

The young woman smiled at him. "I caught a couple of minutes of the news a few minutes ago and they were talking to survivors from the attack. They were all praising the man who single handedly took down the attacker before he could kill anyone else. The news identified you and kept going on about the Air Force hero who saved everyone in the building. They even had a picture of you."

"Oh, crap," John muttered, letting his head fall back to the pillows behind him and closing his eyes. "Please tell me I wasn't wearing that shirt?"

"No," she said. "It was one of those file photos in military dress."

_Thank goodness. _For a moment John had been afraid some news reporter had taken pictures at the scene. If Rodney ever got hold of something like that he'd be toast for a long time."

Dave chuckled. "Looks like you'll be the center of attention for a while." John opened his eyes to look at his brother. Dave's smile faded into an expression John couldn't read. His brother stared at him a few moments before nodding his head once. "Dad would be proud."

The comment caught John completely off guard and he swallowed hard before looking away. He felt his brother's hand on his uninjured shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. He wanted to tell Dave thanks but the words seemed to get caught in his throat. Not much in his life had ever made his father proud of him and the one thing that had, he'd screwed up.

"Well humpty dumpty, I'll let them finish putting you back together while I go check on Cindy and the kids."

John flashed a quick grin at his brother. "Okay. Tell Daniel I can't wait to see his stitches."

"He'll be thrilled. You guys can compare scars . . . or wounds or whatever."

As Dave left, a police detective came in to get John's statement about what had happened. He'd talked to some police at the scene, but the law enforcement officer needed some details filled in. By the time the interview was over, John had been stitched and bandaged and the IV removed. The doctor insisted he wear a sling for a few days, which John didn't argue against since he was having trouble lifting his arm.

They arrived home after midnight. Dave and Cindy sleep walked their children up to their beds and tucked them in. The three adults then crashed in the family room. They were quiet for a while, just sitting in each other's company and thinking about the night.

"I owe you an apology, John."

Raising his eyebrows, John glanced over to his brother. "I'm pretty sure you had no idea there would be a shooting there tonight. Although a nice calm steakhouse would have been good." He couldn't help the smirk that came next.

Dave tilted his head forward slightly with an expression of annoyance. "That isn't what I meant." He pursed his lips a moment and then rubbed the side of his head. "I'm sorry for all the times I thought . . . well, I thought all your talk about being the big bad soldier with the secret missions was a play for attention. I didn't know what you did, but I just . . . I never imagined you doing stuff like you did tonight. And I've been thinking. You didn't hesitate, not for a moment. You just charged that guy and took him down. Getting shot didn't even slow you down. This . . . this was obviously not the first time you've encountered this type of situation which makes me think, well it makes me think that you've been underplaying your role in all this dangerous stuff instead of building it up. Which kind of makes me the fool, not you."

"Wow," John drawled, staring at his brother. The man finally got it, at least as much as he ever would. "I think that's the most you've said to me in ten years." Dave rolled his eyes while Cindy grinned. "I was never trying to brag or make myself seem special. I just wanted you to understand that what I do is important or I wouldn't let it separate me from my family like it does. I didn't defy Dad just to defy him . . . well okay that was part of it. But I've always thought I was doing something that was more important than just me, than just us."

"I know that now. And . . . I'm sorry John. For being such a jerk, especially at Dad's funeral."

John nodded, thinking for a moment. "I'm sorry too. When we were growing up . . . when we drifted apart . . . I made some misjudgments myself. I always thought you were sucking up to dad, trying to be the favorite. It seemed like the more you made him proud, the more I disappointed him. I thought you were doing it on purpose."

Dave frowned and shook his head. "John, I would never -"

"I know that now. I've had some time to think, to go back and replay some things in my head and I know now what you were really doing. You were trying to get him in a good mood and deflect his attention away from me. At the time, I saw that as you sucking up to gain his favor."

Dave sighed and picked at a loose thread on the arm of the chair. "I can see now how it probably looked like that. I used to think you purposely kept pushing him until he was furious." He stopped his fingers and looked up at John with a wry smile. "I realize now that it was just you being stubborn and bull-headed, trying to make your point til the end."

"Guess we both made a few mistakes," John said. He and Dave had been close until they hit their teenage years. Then their mom died and they lost the family mediator, the family glue. From that point forward life was a struggle, a constant battle of arguments and hurt feelings. John rubbed his face with his left hand. At the time things had seemed so unavoidable and now couldn't help but wonder at their blindness to issues that were right in front of them.

"Now _this _is what you guys needed. I knew there was still brotherly love under all the anger and resentment," said Cindy with a smug smile.

Both men rolled their heads around to stare at her, making her laugh.

After a few moments, John chuckled and then looked at his sister-in-law. "As long as we're sharing, have I ever told you about WooWoo?"

Straightening in her chair, Cindy shook her head. "WooWoo?"

Dave groaned loudly and shook his head with more enthusiasm than anyone should have in the middle of the night. "Oh, no you don't."

"Oh, yes I do," John proclaimed with a big grin. "Dave had this stuffed caterpillar . . . "

oOo

John set his bag down on the narrow bed in his temporary quarters on the _Daedalus. _Eighteen days of boredom before he was home again. He sighed, sitting heavily on the edge of the bed and rubbing his arm just below the bandages covering his shoulder. He had ditched the sling a couple of days ago, but his arm was still sore and he could barely lift it. The stitches came out in a two or three days the doc said, which was fine by him because they were starting to itch. Plus he figured once the stitches were out he could start doing a little home grown PT.

He had tried to convince Landry that he needed to go through the gate to get back to Atlantis, but the general had insisted he ride along with the ship. Dr. Lamm and Dr. Keller had probably influenced that decision, figuring that he would have to take it easy this way. Since this wasn't his normal station, he had absolutely nothing to do here. Nothing. For almost three weeks. Yep, he was going to go stark raving insane.

Glancing at his bag, he reached over with his good arm to unzip the case and pull out the box on top. Dave had handed it to him on his way out the door, telling him not to open it until after he left. He was afraid it was a replacement for the shirt from the third level of hell, but the weight of the box had quickly dispelled that. Dave had laughed, apparently reading his expression before explaining it was something the entire family had worked on together for him to remember them by. He smiled, missing them all of a sudden. He and Dave had parted company only a handful of times over the past twenty years and this was the first time he remembered being sad they were separating.

Thinking back, he remembered the night of the shooting. He and Dave had stayed up all night talking. He had learned more in that one night about his brother than the last twenty-five years put together. Amazing how much you could learn when you actually listened. He owed Cindy for a lot of it, for continuing to prod them both until this trip actually happened. After the failed Christmas vacation, Atlantis had been busy, jumping from one disaster or crisis to another, all providing good reasons why he couldn't take time off.

The combination of Cindy emailing him to come just about every week and Keller telling him he needed to get out of Atlantis before he collapsed from exhaustion had finally annoyed him into making the trip to see Dave and his family. One he was sure he would regret. He smiled at the box in his lap. Nothing had prepared him for the best vacation he'd had in a long, long time. Well, except for the brief tangle with violence that was destined to follow him everywhere.

Lifting the top off the box, he stared down at the picture. It was an 8 X 10 in a frame with an inch of matting around it. Stickers of airplanes and Air Force symbols were arranged around the perimeter. The photo was a collage of pictures taken during John's visit. He laughed at one of Daniel and Gabrielle splashing each other in the pool.

The one in the center was of the whole family with John sandwiched in the middle wearing his noxious orange shirt. Cindy had set up the tripod and taken it right before they went to dinner at the club. He was pretty sure Dave was still smirking. Running his finger over the smooth glass covering the photo, he grinned. He had family on Earth again.

John lay back on the bed, more relaxed than he'd felt in a while. It was nice knowing he had family in two galaxies. No matter where he ended up, he had people he could turn to, people who cared about him. People who bought him hideous orange shirts. He laughed for a moment, thankful the shirt was no more. He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling.

Books. On his way out the door, he'd complained about the long trip back and Cindy had shoved a couple of her old paperbacks in his hand. Sitting up, he dug one handed through the bag and pulled out the two books. Looking at them a moment, he groaned. They were obviously romance novels. If only he'd thought to go to the bookstore. Honestly, romance novels? What had she been thinking? Neon orange shirts and romance novels. What the heck was wrong with his family?

He chuckled, thinking of his Atlantis family. Okay, so both groups were a little weird. Looking down at the books, he sighed. He found himself wising at least one of them was here because he was definitely going to die of boredom.

The end.


End file.
